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Lets face it: we've all had one of those moments when watching a show, a movie or perhaps one of your kids and that one little tear of emotion comes out forcing you to say something like "Damnit, that allergy thing is acting up again." to regain a little of your manliness. Don't kid yourself, you've been there. And if you really haven't, please see a psychiatrist as soon as possible.

It has happened to me one more than one occasion, but this week it came up once more as I was watching Forrest Gump with this girl. She had never seen it and it's been so long since I've seen it that I can't really remember what happens in it (except "Something bit me in the butt-ocks!" You just don't forget that). Anyway, at the very end of the movie, when the feather is floating away, I just couldn't help myself and a little tear came out. I was horrified at first and desperately thinking of a way to explain this one("Allergy? No, indoors. Mosquito bite? No, to wimpy. Gnarly fighting wound acting up again? No, might need to show non-existent scar."), but turns out I didn't need to. This girl apparently likes men who can be a little emotional at times and I think it really helped me out.*

Another one I remember is the Battlestar Galactica episode Flight of the Phoenix. When they unveil the Blackbird at the end and you see that they've named it Laura, I just couldn't stop it. Something about how Mary McDonnell handles that scene is just beautiful.

So, what are your stories of manly tears?

[size=6]*Why, yes, I did get lucky that night. Thank you for asking.[/size]

When I get sad, I just stop being sad and be awesome instead. True Story

If we're talking Battlestar Galactica, I'm going with Scar. Specifically the end, where Starbuck, after joking that she forgets all the dead pilots, raises a glass and salutes them all by name and can't continue.

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
-William Shakespeare

As Gandhi said, "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world without Nazis."
-Chairman_Mao

BSG was infamous for getting me with that one piece of score that had the Irish Pennywhistle / Bagpipes bit. Didn't matter what was happening, although it was usually an emotionally charged moment already, but damn that music.

BSG was infamous for getting me with that one piece of score that had the Irish Pennywhistle / Bagpipes bit. Didn't matter what was happening, although it was usually an emotionally charged moment already, but damn that music.

Yeah, they would usually play that tune alongside Adama father-son military moments or big dramatic speeches. Bear the Composer knows his stuff, that's for sure.

Actually in general the awesome is much more likely to tear me up than the sad. It's the deep feel good moments that get me, like the Majestic speech, or the speech the President gives in Independence Day before they launch the last attack, or the speech to the world the President in Armageddon gives.

The only entirely sad thing I can ever remember crying to is Deep Impact when the now-blind astronaut is saying good bye to the newborn son he will never see.

I wouldn't say 'cry,' but I definitely get pretty emotional during the car chase in The Bourne Supremacy, when Bourne and the Russian asset make eye contact. The fact that there's no dialogue between them at all probably is what does it.

Since becoming a father, I've become a lot more emotional at stupid, surprising things like commercials with dads playing with their daughters, etc.

Same here. And those damn country songs about a father and their little girls. I hold my Lil'Bean and cry. She's all confused and says, "It's OK daddy."

Then I have to go beat the dog or something to reinstate my manliness.

This happens to me a lot too. Hurting little kids has me both crying and raging at the same time. I could kill Governator with a single finger at that moment.

Most of my moments - LoTR, Firefly, Lion King - have already been mentioned, so here's another one: Finding Nemo, the scene where the father believes Nemo is dead. And then the one where they meet again. I've seen it two dozen times and well up every time. Even more so since I've become a father. I've seen the movie for the first time in a theatre full of kids and the whole theatre was sobbing at that scene, some very loudly. Not me, of course, I'm a man, goddamit, where's my beer?!

It's easy to play piano: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time.

Count me in for Up. Also, I recently watched all of Six Feet Under for the first time. I cried like a baby through most of the last episode. Especially the final dinner party with the whole family gathered around the table, and then the montage as Claire drives away.

The one book that always gets me is the end of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Every time.

Count me in for Up. Also, I recently watched all of Six Feet Under for the first time. I cried like a baby through most of the last episode. Especially the final dinner party with the whole family gathered around the table, and then the montage as Claire drives away.

Oh yeah, that montage sequence is hella mweepy.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.

Most of my moments - LoTR, Firefly, Lion King - have already been mentioned, so here's another one: Finding Nemo, the scene where the father believes Nemo is dead. And then the one where they meet again. I've seen it two dozen times and well up every time. Even more so since I've become a father. I've seen the movie for the first time in a theatre full of kids and the whole theatre was sobbing at that scene, some very loudly. Not me, of course, I'm a man, goddamit, where's my beer?!

Yeah, Finding Nemo has really deepend for me since having a child. But, even before that, the other scene that always got me was Dori's breaking down and starting to forget everything when Marlin leaves her. Amazing voice acting by Ellen DeGeneres there (especially, as they say on the commentary track, because she did it on the first take).

And Up, hell yes. Good friends of mine have tried for years to have a baby and only recently have been made to understand that she is unable to conceive. Made me think of them, and of how fortunate we are to have our daughter and... *blubbers*

Count me in for Up. Also, I recently watched all of Six Feet Under for the first time. I cried like a baby through most of the last episode. Especially the final dinner party with the whole family gathered around the table, and then the montage as Claire drives away.

I was about to post this and decided to read so that I was not a dirty skimmer. Good move, apparently.

The thing is, for about six months afterwards, the piece of music they played over the last montage of Six Feet Under (Breathe Me by Sia) made me start sobbing too, because I just started remembering with startling clarity the last bit where they basically re-establish the over arching theme of the series - the fleeting nature of life.

I'm so glad other people cried the whole way through Up! I thought I was emotionally damaged in some way.

You know a weird show that made me cry? The last episode of Star Trek Enterprise. But then again, I quite liked the show, which is unusual in and of itself.

Ratboy wrote:

I liked it better when I thought she was speaking in tongues. Cute tongues, but tongues nonetheless.

You know a weird show that made me cry? The last episode of Star Trek Enterprise. But then again, I quite liked the show, which is unusual in and of itself.

I kind of had a mweepy (short for man-weepy) moment during the final montage with Picard and Kirk's Enterprises, like it suddenly hit me that there'd never be a new Star Trek series on television again, that the (mostly) great ride we'd been on since TNG premiered in '87 was over.

*Legion* wrote:

my right hand spent most of those early-teen years in that grip position... damn near wore out my Thrustmaster...

Yeah, that made me feel really sad. I had to sit there for a second and stare at the credits. I had such a crazy reaction when Riker turned around just before the credits rolled at the beginning (it was a bit Trekky). I shouted WHAT and stared with my mouth open whilst he deactivated the holo chamber. And then I ran to get my brother and replayed it shouting WHAT?! and pointing at the screen.

He'd already seen it, so he wasn't as impressed. But that last episode was probably one of the best episodes of the entire series.

Ratboy wrote:

I liked it better when I thought she was speaking in tongues. Cute tongues, but tongues nonetheless.

Though there may have been earlier incidents, my first memory of crying at a movie was definitely the sickness/'death' scene in E.T. where the kids first find the poor little guy all washed-out pale and unconscious at the drainage ditch, followed by the agonizing fade to black sequence with Elliot and E.T. on their gurneys back at the house.

Looking back, it was a stroke of genius that The Government encapsulated the house ala 'The Boy In The Plastic Bubble', donning germ-free space suits to treat E.T. ...Talk about an inverse lens on the whole identity of the stereotypical evil-alien vs. who the real villain can be.

Side note bonus:

E.T. released theatrically in the summer of 1982, when I had just turned the wee age of 13. My parents took me to the show, but after getting our seats, I went to the concession stand solo to get some popcorn and a soda.

Standing in line in front of me was the most beautiful girl (my age) that I'd ever seen, at least that's how the memory plays out. The line was pretty long, so I spent the next 15-20 minutes chatting this girl up. A first for me.

While nothing came of it, I think I fell in love on the spot.

It's funny how sometimes the smallest things stay with you decades later.

Though there may have been earlier incidents, my first memory of crying at a movie was definitely the sickness/'death' scene in E.T. where the kids first find the poor little guy all washed-out pale and unconscious at the drainage ditch, followed by the agonizing fade to black sequence with Elliot and E.T. on their gurneys back at the house.

This was my first memory of crying at a movie too. My parents rented it when I was very young and I remember bawling my eyes out when E.T. was lying there all pale.

1. Animal Cops shows. Whenever they show animals that have been abused to nearly the point of death (and sometimes, sadly, beyond that point).

2. That Plan USA commercial with Laurie Metcalf (of Roseanne fame) where they talk about the little boy whose parents were killed and all he has left is an elderly grandmother and his four younger brothers whom he has to take care of. Really heartbreaking and makes me sad I have no way of being able to help.

First movie to make me weep was probably 'The Champ' when around 12'ish years old.

Then came the manly teens and 20's where crying was just not on. These days, I'm less bothered and if a show/movie moves me to have a tear rolling down my cheek, so be it. I find it the mark of a good piece of entertainment.